The Seventies

Elizabeth Taylor in Iran

In 1976, Elizabeth Taylor took her first and only trip to Iran, photographer Firooz Zahedi in tow. The captivating, exotically colorful pictures that resulted will debut this month at lacma; the untold story of Zahedi and Taylor’s artistic and personal adventure.

Those violet eyes. That tiny waist. All those baubles, and the marriages. To say that Dame Elizabeth Taylor has been noticed by the press over her half-century career is an understatement. But there once was a thrilling—albeit short—period when this Academy Award–winning actress was freed from the attentions of Hollywood gossip columnists and the shutters of the paparazzi—ironically, in a country where most personal freedoms are now stifled. And it was all captured by a young artist she met by chance.

Iranian-born photographer Firooz Zahedi was an art student in his 20s when he met Taylor in Washington, D.C., through his cousin Ardeshir Zahedi, Iran’s ambassador to the United States in the mid-1970s and the then companion of Ms. Taylor. “I was calling into art school saying, ‘I’m sick,’” the photographer recalls, grinning. “Then I took Elizabeth to the National Gallery, and as we were leaving there were all these photographers. The next day it was on the cover of The Washington Post or something, and I had to make an explanation at school. I passed all my exams anyway.” An opportunity to photograph his new friend followed soon thereafter. “My cousin wanted her to go to Iran for this inaugural flight on Iran Air, and he invited a lot of society people—[Elizabeth] said she would go if I would go with her,” Zahedi says. “I hadn’t been there since the age of nine—I didn’t really have any desire to go back … it wasn’t really a place to be an artist.”

But together, the two friends saw Iran through fresh eyes, acting like “a couple of tourists,” Zahedi says. “There was no pressure, just lots of fun. No one recognized her.” He snapped photographs of her in teahouses and in Persepolis—in front of the tent city built for the 2,500-year anniversary of Iran’s kings and monarchies, now a “weathered symbol of decadence left over from the Shah’s regime,” Zahedi says. “I have one shot of her standing in front of the mosque in a chador—you’ll notice there’s a man going in and a woman going in. Now in Iran, you can’t do that anymore.”

Beginning February 26—the eve of Taylor’s 79th birthday—the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will present “Elizabeth Taylor in Iran: Photographs by Firooz Zahedi,” a collection of nearly three dozen of those vividly colorful images documenting the first and only trip Taylor took to the country. Zahedi has worked for many publications, including Vanity Fair, Interview, and Esquire, and has created such iconic images as the one of Uma Thurman languishing on a motel bed for Pulp Fiction. Yet it is Taylor whom Zahedi directly credits with fostering his early creative beginnings—and 35 years later, they are still close friends.

The actress beams upward at the sunlight in the city of Shiraz at the tomb of Hafez, the controversial 14th-century poet.

Taylor appears covered outside the Shah Chirag Shrine in Shiraz, top left, in this assemblage of four black-and-white photos.

A close-up outside the Shah Chirag Shrine. “Note that there is a man and a woman entering the mosque together,” Zahedi says of the photo. “[That is] no longer possible under the Islamic regime—women have to enter through a separate door and sit in a separate section.”

While in Isfahan, Taylor stayed at the Shah Abbas hotel, a converted royal palace. Here, Zahedi contrasts photos of the palace’s soaring ceilings with those of Taylor applying makeup.

Taylor donned an ensemble that Zahedi says is typical of those worn by tribal women, adding hot-pink lipstick.

After purchasing bolts of beautifully colored fabric and scarves at the bazaar, Taylor and Zahedi covered the wood-paneled walls and mid-century Danish furniture of her Tehran Hilton hotel room, Zahedi says. Taylor poses with a single flower.

Elizabeth Taylor takes a tourist’s snapshot in Persepolis.

The actress beams upward at the sunlight in the city of Shiraz at the tomb of Hafez, the controversial 14th-century poet.

Taylor appears covered outside the Shah Chirag Shrine in Shiraz, top left, in this assemblage of four black-and-white photos.

A close-up outside the Shah Chirag Shrine. “Note that there is a man and a woman entering the mosque together,” Zahedi says of the photo. “[That is] no longer possible under the Islamic regime—women have to enter through a separate door and sit in a separate section.”

In profile in front of dazzling mosaic and tile work, Taylor stands by the tomb of the poet Sa’di.

A set of four black-and-whites, this time at another mosque in Shiraz.

A close-up of Taylor outside a Shiraz mosque, framed by architectural elements.

Covered by a scarf, Taylor takes tea in an old teahouse in Isfahan, a designated World Heritage Site and once the capital of Persia.

At the teahouse, a close-up of Taylor with downcast eyes.

While in Isfahan, Taylor stayed at the Shah Abbas hotel, a converted royal palace. Here, Zahedi contrasts photos of the palace’s soaring ceilings with those of Taylor applying makeup.

Taylor donned an ensemble that Zahedi says is typical of those worn by tribal women, adding hot-pink lipstick.

After purchasing bolts of beautifully colored fabric and scarves at the bazaar, Taylor and Zahedi covered the wood-paneled walls and mid-century Danish furniture of her Tehran Hilton hotel room, Zahedi says. Taylor poses with a single flower.